John Wycliffe: Morning Star Of The Reformation

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John Wycliffe, the most prominent of the reformers before the Reformation and was known as the “Morning Star of the Reformation” , was born at Yorkshire, England perhaps between 1320 and 1330 and he died at Lutterworth December 31, 1384. He was an English Protestant theologian, philosopher, church reformer best known for his role in producing the first complete translation of the Bible into the common language which is English. He is a critic of the Catholic Church as he is considered to be an early Reformer. In 1378, Wycliffe began a systematic attack on the beliefs and practices of the medieval church. He taught that the true church consisted of Jesus Christ and the rest of his followers not the Pope, saints and the selling of his indulgences. Followers of Wycliffe were called The Lollards who propagated his controversial views. Wycliffe attended and received his formal education at The University of Oxford and went on to become an Oxford professor. Then, he became a fellow of Merton College and, in 1360, Master of Balliol College. …show more content…

Wycliffe regarded the bible as a valuable and authoritative book and to him there was nothing important than getting the Bible and it’s message into the hearts of people . He also did something that was quite different and revolutionary which was having discussions on the whole Bible as it was the highest authority for every Christian. Wycliffe is best known for his role in translating the Bible into English .Church printed the Bible in Latin which was difficult for the lower classes to read and not everyone had access to the Bible, so Wycliffe felt that the peasants and the common people should be able to read the bible and benefit from it rather than have the Catholic Church force its interpretation on them. This translation was regarded as the ‘first complete European translation’ and some people believe that Wycliffe translated a huge part of it and also with the help of a group of